If the holiday blues are getting you down, here's the best cure that we can give you. Five hours of non-stop, super funk! Old School remixes, rarities and some down and dirty funk make this playlist a winner that will keep you groovin' all season long.
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A newly discovered box of old mixtapes on cassette contained some true gems, including this fabulous mix of non-stop old school funk. Put on your dancing shoes for this one!
The Date: 14 February 1980
The Place: The Copacabana, NYC The Event: Just 10 days after the closing of Studio 54, the city's most iconic and infamous nightclub, the revelers moved the party to E. 60th Street to another iconic and infamous location: The Copacabana. The Guests: Transplants from Studio 54 looking to keep the debauchery of the disco scene alive and Copa regulars who weren't always so happy with the influx of of former Studio 54 devotees. The Scene: The Copa had multiple levels of dancing, including a disco in the basement level with a huge DJ booth and dance and concert rooms upstairs. It was a wild party wherever you turned. The DJ's: Over the years, the deejays included Pete Denis, Tony Gio, Luis 'El Flaco" Orellana and many others. While the setlists varied, the music often had a Latin and international feeling. The Playlist: 
Yet another in our “Instant Expert” series of playlists with '80s Dance.
We've combed through our crates to bring you a selection of songs that will allow you to impress even the most knowledgeable '80s dance music devotees with this mix of great songs. Talk the talk to sound like an expert: "Did you know that The Cure's Robert Smith was once a member of Siouxie and the Banshees?" "Eddie Van Halen plays the guitar solo in Michael Jackson's "Beat It."" "Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Relax" was the biggest single in the UK of the '80s." And now you're an expert! 
What is the funkiest song of all time? (Our vote is for Sly & The Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again"). The Tasty Turntable wanted to get your thoughts so we pulled together all the funk you need into one playlist. This is our essential funk collection. Let us know if you think we missed something.
In the words of Ike and Tina Turner: This one's "funkier than a mosquita's tweeter!" 
Less than three years after Bianca Jagger celebrated her birthday just days after the club's opening in 1977 (see The Night That Changed Everything Post below), Studio 54 was shuttering its doors after a wild ride hosting New York City's elite. The closing party at Studio 54 came to be known as "The End of Modern-Day Gomorrah."
The Date: 4 February 1980 The Place: Studio 54, NYC The Event: The original closing night of Studio 54 and the party called "The End of Modern-Day Gomorrah" The Guests: Diana Ross, Sylvester Stallone, Jack Nicholson, Richard Gere, Ryan O'Neal, Reggie Jackson, Mariel Hemingway and more. The Scene: The disco era was ending as the musical landscape welcomed the grittier punk and new wave scenes. Studio 54, the epicenter of disco, closed with one final party called "The End of Modern-day Gomorrah". An A-List of stars gathered and packed the dance floor one last time. Soon the club's owners (Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell) would be imprisoned for tax evasion.Shortly after the nightclub's closing, cocaine and money were found in its walls. For one last night however, Studio 54 was the place to be. Imagine the scene, as the night grew longer and the music played on and on. By the time Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" dropped, the dance floor was packed and the party had started. Listen to the playlist here: The End of Modern-Day Gomorrah 
We make playlists for many different reasons. Sometimes it is to capture a mood or introduce friends to new music. Other times, our mixes can chronicle certain events. One of our favorite playlists captures a particular night at Studio 54, the infamous New York's night spot.
The Date: 2 May 1977 The Place: Studio 54, NYC The Event: Bianca Jagger's 32nd Birthday Party The Guests: Mick Jagger, Liza Minelli, Andy Warhol, Rudolf Nureyev, Tina Turner, Truman Capote and more. The DJ: Nicky Siano The Scene: Studio 54 had been open just one week when club owners Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager agreed to host Bianca Jagger's birthday bash on a Monday night in May. With his club (The Gallery) closed, Nicky Siano was at the turntables. Over the course of more than six wild hours, the nightclub scene....and the music scene...were forever transformed. Siano spun a mix of soul, funk, reggae and rock. As the night wore on, Siano worked the crowd into a frenzy--on and off the dance floor--and those lucky enough to be there experienced an epic musical event. The music sizzled..and dance music and nightlife were never the same again. Listen to the Playlist: 
David Mancuso's private "loft" parties during the 1970s in New York City were legendary for their mix of great music and a vibrant disco scene. Mancuso had an unusual style of playing records. He was known for leaving space between each track, playing them fully from beginning to end with no adjustments. He had a reverence for music, especially good, new music and his DJ style told the stories from the songs. He used each song to create a profound musical narrative to generate and reflect a changing mood.
In August 1987, four London music industry legends spent a week-long holiday in Ibiza. There they discovered a little-known club called Amnesia and a DJ named Alfredo Fiorito who blended music like no one else. The crowd at Amnesia, fueled by a new drug called Ecstasy, could not get enough. With a wide variety of musical genres from Chicago House to Cyndi Lauper pop to Reggae, a new sound and new scene was born. This is the music that he played.
We are excited to introduce our new “Instant Expert” series of playlists. Each week, the crew at Playlist Giants will be releasing mixes covering a specific genre or theme. Playlists Giants will do all the work so that you can instantly become an expert on a wide variety of music topics. Impress your friends with your vast knowledge of newly acquired tidbits learned from our musical offerings or simply press play and let the music speak for itself!
Today's offering is “Instant Expert: The Roots of Disco.” We dug through our crates and combed the web to bring you a selection of songs that will allow you to impress even the most knowledgeable disco devotees. Talk the talk to sound like an expert: "The real 'roots' of disco go back to the private clubs in NYC like The Loft and the influence of the Philly Sounds" "You can almost see the diso ball spinning in 'I Can't Get Enough' by Willie Hutch...but that song preceded the disco era by nearly 10 years." "The era represented by this playlist is 1968-1974...not only was disco not dead yet...it hadn't even been invented!" "I can't decide which version of 'Law of the Land' I like better...you decide." Now put on those dancin' shoes... |